10 super-genes that scientists could someday program into your body

Kevin LoriaApr 18, 2015, 02:49 IST

Warner Bros.Unfortunately, we probably aren't talking this "super" - though maybe this technology could remove Superman's kryptonite vulnerability (but only if his DNA worked like that of Earth organisms).

Think about it - who wouldn't want gene variants that made bones extra strong, prevented bad body odor, and made Alzheimer's and cancer incredibly unlikely?

In an interview with the scientist Paul Knoepfler, Church refers to such "rare protective variants of large impact," which exist naturally - but only in a few people. The new gene editing technology, CRISPR, could theoretically go into your genetic code and replace less beneficial genes with new ones.This technology is still far from perfect now: it has a fairly inaccurate find-and-replace genetic code function at the moment, working only about 20% of time.

Still, CRISPR is a new discovery and scientists are advancing our ability to use it every day. Researchers are expected to publish more than 1,100 papers on CRISPR just this year.